Do you sing to your baby? What actually got me started thinking about this topic was our potty time ritual. My husband says it’s truly laughable–but I don’t care; it works. To help encourage the girls to stay on the potty a decent amount of time when they’re trying to go we run through various renditions of their favorite songs: Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Most of you know that I have twins, and so generally I spend 30 minutes at a time singing the nursery favorites.
It occurred to me yesterday (as I erroneously thought I could sing a different song while waiting for one of the twins to do her deeds), that I really use music a lot in parenting and it’s been a rather successful tool. Specific types of music and songs can cue particular behaviors and if you use certain music consistently, it helps with routines. Here are a few examples:
Clean Up, Clean Up Everybody Clean Up!
Barney fans everywhere know this song. If you don’t know it (or avoid big purple dinosaurs) make up your own little clean up song. It’s short and it’s quick and when I start singing it and picking up toys my little ones follow suit. It’s short which is kind of the point, and it makes cleaning up fun. As soon as your baby is old enough to put toys in a basket, he is old enough to start associating this song with cleaning up.
Timing Activities by the Duration of a Song
I gave a classic example of this in the introduction but we use Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for other things where we end up waiting around. The girls, believe it or not, associate this song with sitting still. It’s a waiting song and we sing it while we’re waiting–be it to get off the potty, waiting in line, or waiting for something to cool. In fact, we generally sing a short song before a hot meal to allow it a little time to cool on the plates first.
Bedtime Music
Playing the same type of calming lullaby music helps set the mood for sleep. Classical music is not the same as a lullaby and actually stimulates wakefulness so choose music that is calming and simple.
Playtime Music
My ability to homeschool the older children is dependent on my ability to keep the little ones happy. When it is time for independent play, I pull out toys and a favorite classical CD. There is research that suggests classical music helps babies think better. But regardless it can be a cue for your child that now is the time to let mommy get a few things done.
Musical cues can be taught early on. You don’t need to wait until your baby is a toddler. However, you certainly shouldn’t expect baby to know exactly what to do after the first few tries. It is a learning process but music can definitely help you order your day.